This invention relates to raised panel or access flooring systems and floor coverings, including carpet and carpet tile and resilient sheet and tile products.
Myriad materials have been used for flooring and floor coverings in buildings, including virtually every natural and human-made material imaginable, such as wood, stone, concrete, cork, plastics, paint, carpets, rugs, vinyl sheets and tiles, sawdust, rushes, and animal skins, to name just a few. Rugs and carpets in a wide variety of materials, patterns and constructions have been manufactured for centuries, particularly for use in homes. As recently as the middle of the twentieth century, carpets and rugs were virtually never used in commercial and industrial buildings like manufacturing facilities, stores and offices. Floors in such locations utilized xe2x80x9chard surfacexe2x80x9d materials like concrete, concrete compositions, wood or sheet materials like linoleum. Beginning in approximately the late 1960""s and 1970""s, carpet and carpet tiles began to be used extensively in commercial and xe2x80x9clightxe2x80x9d industrial buildings, a trend that was accelerated by the advent of new carpet technologies that provided more durable and attractive products and by the popularity of xe2x80x9copenxe2x80x9d floor plan offices.
As a result of these developments, the comfort and aesthetic appeal of carpet and carpet tile have come to be widely expected in offices and other commercial environments.
Floor structures in most office and commercial buildings are concrete. Typically, a modest amount of cabling in conduits and the like are buried in the concrete. Drop ceilings are frequently used in office and other commercial buildings to conceal the many other infrastructure elements normally found in buildings, such as electricity and communications cabling; water and sewage pipes; and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) ducts. However, difficulty in accessing these elements and the cabling needs of some computer installations have led to the increased use of raised panel flooring. Raised panel flooring, also known as access flooring, typically includes multiple rigid floor panels which are supported by a pedestal and stringer structure that rests on the concrete slab floor of the building. An example is shown in U.S. Design Pat. No. D370,060, entitled xe2x80x9cModular Grid Understructure,xe2x80x9d dated May 21, 1996, which is incorporated herein by this reference. The panels provide a stable floor, while the support structure creates a space or xe2x80x9csubfloorxe2x80x9d under the panels and above the concrete slab floor for routing infrastructure elements.
Rigid flooring panels are typically constructed of aluminum, steel, wood, concrete or various combinations thereof. For example, flooring panels may be made of concrete or wood encased in a steel shell. These unyielding surfaces are uncomfortable and noisy to walk on. Also, bare metal surfaces (or even painted or coated surfaces) may be unattractive, creating an unpleasant environment, particularly in light of the expectations mentioned above that have developed as a result of widespread use of carpet in office and commercial environments. Thus, access floors often are covered with a sound and shock absorbent material, such as carpet tile. The use of carpet tiles also improves the aesthetic appearance of the floor.
Carpet tiles can have a wide variety of constructions. However, carpet tiles typically include at least two layers: a top or xe2x80x9cfacexe2x80x9d layer and a bottom or xe2x80x9cbackingxe2x80x9d layer. The face layer is a relatively thin textile fiber layer, typically tufted, fusion bonded, woven or needle punched. The backing layer is a relatively thick resilient pad that contributes many desirable properties to the overall tile, such as cushioning and sound attenuation. The backing layer is hidden from view under the face layer.
Accessing the subfloor requires removal and reinstallation of the rigid panels and any carpet tiles or other floor covering lying on the panels. Frequent movement of the tiles, traffic on the floor and other contacts with the tiles often damage the tiles, requiring replacement. The damage to the tiles is typically restricted to the face layer of the tile; the backing layer is rarely damaged. Moreover, purely cosmetic damage to the backing layer can be ignored since the backing is not visible. In contrast, even minor damage to the facing layer may necessitate replacement of the entire tile. Thus, as a result of minor damage to only one portion of the tile, the entire tile must be discarded. The disposal and/or recycling of both the face and backing layers is particularly difficult, because, due to the dissimilarities in materials, the various carpet components must be separated prior to recycling. As a result, damaged carpet tiles are often discarded, creating disposal costs and environmental problems. Alternatively, recyclers are forced to used complex and expensive recycling systems that can separate the dissimilar materials. It would be desirable to provide systems for use with access flooring which mininizes the disposal, recycling and/or replacement cost of damaged tiles while providing the aesthetic and functional characteristics of carpet tile or other conventional floor treatments.
One approach in the art was a steel panel with welded side flanges and a tile having a carpet square bonded thereto and a base plate having flanges with an inward projection that snaps onto the steel panel as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,818 issued to Bettiuger, Mar. 5, 1991. In Bettinger, the entire tile including the bonded carpet and the base plate are removed. Bettinger does not provide for detaching only the carpet portion of the tile. Attempts to remove the bonded carpet from the tile are likely to destroy the carpet leaving it unusable. Thus, with Bettinger, the entire tile must be removed and not just the bonded carpet. Thus, a need still exists for a system and method that provides for detaching the upper carpet portion of a floor covering of a raised access floor panel system where the carpet is not destroyed and may be reused.
This invention addresses these limitation by presenting a relatively thick, resilient pad is bonded directly to and covers the entire surface of an access floor panel. The pad provides the functional characteristics of conventional floor treatments by absorbing impacts, attenuating sound and contributing to the desired xe2x80x9cfeelxe2x80x9d when standing or walking on the floor. xe2x80x9cInstallationxe2x80x9d of the pad occurs in the factory where it is bonded to the panel, rather than on-site, thereby simplifying on-site activities.
Modules of xe2x80x9creinforced face clothxe2x80x9d having only a face layer and a stabilizing layer are used to cover the pad. The reinforced face cloth modules provide the desired aesthetic effect of conventional floor treatments. The reinforced face cloth modules also extend the life of the pad by reducing wear.
In one embodiment, the reinforced face cloth modules are not bonded to the padded floor panels. Alternatively, the modules may be bonded lightly to the pad with a pressure sensitive adhesive that allows easy removal. The pressure sensitive adhesive prevents the module from sliding without limiting the ability to remove the module from the pad. In either case, damaged or worn modules can be replaced with a minimum of material usage and dramatically lower cost than if conventional floor treatments were replaced. Furthermore, because the pad and the modules are at most only lightly bonded together, the complexity and cost of separating the modules from the pad and recycling either or both the pad and the module is reduced.
In an alternative embodiment of this invention, the reinforced face cloth modules affix to the pad utilizing hook and loop fasteners.
The pad may be cast directly onto the panel or may be manufactured separately and bonded to the panel with an adhesive. In the event the pads are cast directly onto the panel, additional pads may be manufactured separately for use to replace damaged pads. Alternatively, damaged pads may be repaired by filing in the damaged area with an appropriate repair material, or panels having damaged pads may simply be replaced.
The reinforced face cloth modules may be manufactured in sizes corresponding to the panels or may be manufactured in any desired standard sizes and distributed on the floor independent of the panel interfaces.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide aesthetic and wear coverings for raised flooring panels which are easily replaced with a minimum of waste.
Another object of the present invention is to provide shock absorbent and sound attenuating coverings for raised flooring panels in which the coverings are affixed to the panel.
Another object of the present invention is to provide coverings for raised flooring panels having an inexpensively replaced face cloth module.
Another object of the present invention is to provide coverings for raised floor panels which minimize waste and reduce recycling costs.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent with reference to the drawings, the following description of the drawings and the claims.